WARREN — A Warren man has been found guilty on six counts relating to an incident where he is accused of shooting at police during a chase in October 2020.

Mehki Walker, 22, of Northwest Boulevard, was found guilty by the jury of two counts of attempted aggravated murder, each with three firearm specifications; two counts of felonious assault, each with three firearm specifications; and one count of failure to comply. Visiting Judge Gary L. Yost of Ashtabula found him guilty of one count of having weapons while under disability.

His sentencing has been set for Oct. 28. Until then, he will continue to be held in Trumbull County. He was being held in Mansfield, but came to the county to prepare for the trial. Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow said Walker is likely facing 33 to 50 years in prison.

According to the police report, the officer was on patrol near Northwest Boulevard when he heard four gunshots close by.

A few seconds later, the officer saw a vehicle moving at high speed turn southbound from Williamsburg onto Bennett Street. The vehicle then turned eastbound onto Northwest and did not stop for a stop sign.

When the officer activated his lights and siren, the driver of the vehicle cracked his door and began firing from a handgun. The pursuit continued on Northwest with the vehicles within 20 yards of each other as the chase went to Dennison Avenue, the report states.

The officer reported drawing his pistol but could not get a clear shot at the suspect, the report states.

As the driver attempted a turn onto Norwood Street, the vehicle went off the road and into a ditch. As the suspect got out of the vehicle, he threw the firearm behind him and ran in the opposite direction. Another man came out of the passenger side of the vehicle and began running in the same direction as the shooter, through backyards toward Bradford Street.

Walker was represented by attorney Mary Ellen Ditchey. The trial began Oct. 11. Both sides made their closing arguments Friday morning, and the jury returned its verdict mid-afternoon.

During closing arguments, each side touched on two major points.

Ditchey said she is not denying the events of that day happened, but she is denying that Walker was the driver. She pointed out that four to six people’s DNA had been found in the car and the state did not test DNA from the steering wheel, the gear shift, keys, radio or inside door handle. She said the DNA evidence does not prove who was in the car, where or when.

Morrow acknowledged other DNA profiles were found in the car, but said Walker was a major contributor to all the tested swabs.

Earlier in the week, jurors heard testimony from Ethan Chambers, who said he was the passenger in the car at the time of the incident. Morrow said he was able to tell police the story, which he would not have known if he was not in the car at the time.

Ditchey pointed out the inconsistencies and lies in his story from his initial interview with police. She said this is not reliable testimony.

“They knew who they wanted to blame for this incident, and it was Mehki Walker,” she said.

Morrow said he was not asking the jury to let Chambers babysit their kids, but was asking them to trust his testimony. He justified Chamber’s lies, saying he would not have wanted to implicate himself initially.

In the end, the jury agreed with Morrow’s assessment, which was that there were too many coincidences in the situation for Walker to not be the driver. He said he thanks Warren police, the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for working to investigate this case and get another violent criminal off the street.

Trumbull County Common Pleas Court records show that Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Walker in 2019 to two years in prison on a conviction for having weapons as a felon. He was released in 2020 before this October incident. He was also recently sentenced for charges related to an aggravated robbery, which also occurred October 2020.

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